🍎 mac-transplant

Scan your /Applications folder, detect apps that can't be safely copied to another Mac, and auto-generate a full dependency backup + restore script per app.

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📖 The Problem

Not all macOS apps are safe to drag-and-drop to a new Mac or USB drive. Some install background daemons, kernel extensions, privileged helpers, plugins, or store critical data in Application Support and Preferences — all outside the .app bundle. Copying only the .app leaves those behind and the app breaks.

This toolset takes the guesswork out of it.

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🗂 Scripts

Script	Version	Purpose
analyze_apps.sh	v2.0.0	Scan all apps, detect caveats, generate report & restore guide
copy_app_deps.sh	v1.0.0	Copy every dependency of a specific app to a structured folder

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✨ What It Does

analyze_apps.sh

1. Scans every .app in /Applications
2. Detects whether each app is self-contained or has caveats
3. Saves two files to ~/Desktop:

Output	Purpose
app_report.txt	Full human-readable report for every app
restore_caveats.sh	Runnable guide for the target Mac

copy_app_deps.sh

1. Takes an app name + target path
2. Copies the .app bundle plus every dependency it finds into a structured folder
3. Auto-generates a restore_deps.sh script inside that folder

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🚦 Caveat Types Detected

Badge	What's Detected	Where It Looks
MAS_APP	Mac App Store receipt	Contents/_MASReceipt
LAUNCH_DAEMON	Background LaunchDaemon/Agent	/Library/LaunchDaemons, /Library/LaunchAgents, ~/Library/LaunchAgents
KERNEL_EXTENSION	Kernel extension (kext)	/Library/Extensions, /System/Library/Extensions
PRIVILEGED_HELPER	Privileged helper tool	/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools
LICENSE_ACTIVATION	License / serial / activation file	Contents/Resources/
SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK	Third-party framework dependency	otool -L against /Library/Frameworks
EXTERNAL_BINARIES	CLI tools outside the bundle	/usr/local/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, /usr/local/sbin, /opt/homebrew/sbin
APP_SUPPORT_FILES	Application Support folder	/Library/Application Support/, ~/Library/Application Support/
PREFERENCES	Preference plists	~/Library/Preferences/, /Library/Preferences/ (by bundle ID)
LOGIN_ITEMS	Embedded login helper / RunAtLoad plist	Contents/Library/LoginItems/, plists with RunAtLoad key
PLUGINS	Plugins in system directories	VST, VST3, AU, HAL, QuickLook, Spotlight, Screen Savers, PreferencePanes, Internet Plug-Ins (17 dirs)
INTEL_ONLY_NEEDS_ROSETTA2	Intel-only binary on Apple Silicon	lipo -archs

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🚀 Quick Start

Step 1 — Clone

git clone https://github.com/yingtze/mac-transplant.git
cd mac-transplant
chmod +x analyze_apps.sh copy_app_deps.sh

Step 2 — Scan your source Mac

./analyze_apps.sh

Outputs ~/Desktop/app_report.txt and ~/Desktop/restore_caveats.sh.

Step 3 — Copy a specific app and all its dependencies

./copy_app_deps.sh "Zoom" /Volumes/MyDrive
./copy_app_deps.sh "Adobe Photoshop 2024" /Volumes/MyDrive

Output structure on your drive:

/Volumes/MyDrive/AppDeps/Zoom/
├── app/                    ← .app bundle
├── binaries/               ← CLI tools
├── app_support_system/     ← /Library/Application Support/Zoom
├── app_support_user/       ← ~/Library/Application Support/Zoom
├── preferences_user/       ← com.zoom.us.plist
├── preferences_system/
├── launch_launchdaemons/   ← LaunchDaemon plists
├── launch_agents_user/     ← ~/Library/LaunchAgents plists
├── privileged_helpers/
├── plugins/                ← VST, AU, QuickLook, etc.
├── login_items/
├── kexts/
└── restore_deps.sh         ← ⬅ run this on the target Mac

Step 4 — Restore on the target Mac

cd /Volumes/MyDrive/AppDeps/Zoom
./restore_deps.sh

restore_deps.sh knows which files need sudo, runs launchctl load for daemons, kextload for kernel extensions, and prints a post-restore checklist.

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🖥 Example Output

🔍  macOS App Analyzer v2.0.0
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
VLC  ✅  Self-contained
   Version: 3.0.20  |  Bundle: org.videolan.vlc  |  Arch: arm64 x86_64

Zoom  ⚠️   Has caveats
   Version: 5.17.1  |  Bundle: us.zoom.xos  |  Arch: arm64 x86_64
   Caveats: LAUNCH_DAEMON PRIVILEGED_HELPER PREFERENCES APP_SUPPORT_FILES

Logic Pro  ⚠️   Has caveats
   Version: 11.1  |  Bundle: com.apple.logic10  |  Arch: arm64
   Caveats: MAS_APP PLUGINS APP_SUPPORT_FILES

📊  Summary
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Total apps scanned : 42
  Self-contained     : 28
  Have caveats       : 14

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📋 Requirements

• macOS 10.15 Catalina or later
• Bash 3.2+ (pre-installed on macOS)
• Standard tools: lipo, otool, defaults, find, launchctl — all pre-installed

No Homebrew, no third-party dependencies.

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⚙️ Configuration

Edit the top of analyze_apps.sh to change output paths:

APPS_DIR="/Applications"
REPORT_FILE="$HOME/Desktop/app_report.txt"
RESTORE_SCRIPT="$HOME/Desktop/restore_caveats.sh"

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🔒 Permissions & Safety

• analyze_apps.sh — read-only. Does not modify, move, or delete anything. Does not require sudo. Only writes app_report.txt and restore_caveats.sh to your Desktop.
• copy_app_deps.sh — read-only on source. Writes only to your specified target path.
• restore_deps.sh (auto-generated) — requires sudo for system-level files. Review it before running.

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📁 Repo Structure

mac-transplant/
├── analyze_apps.sh      # v2.0.0 — scanner & caveat detector
├── copy_app_deps.sh     # v1.0.0 — dependency copier
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── README.md
├── .gitignore
└── LICENSE

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🗺 Roadmap

See [Unreleased] section in CHANGELOG.md.

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🤝 Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

git checkout -b feature/my-improvement
git commit -m "feat: add --json output flag"
git push origin feature/my-improvement

Commit message convention: feat:, fix:, docs:, refactor:, chore:

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📄 License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.